LONG BEACH — Hoping to save a pair of longtime Westside businesses from closure, supporters of Berth 55 Fish Market and Seafood Deli and Long Beach Sportfishing urged Long Beach port officials Thursday to keep the two businesses from shuttering because of a bridge replacement project.

A raucous crowd of more than a 100 people - many of them sporting buttons that read "Keep '55' Alive" - gathered at a community forum at Berth 55 to voice their concerns over a plan to relocate a fire station displaced by the Gerald Desmond Bridge replacement project.

"We are not going out of business; the port has decided we are going out of business," said Michael Redlew, general manager of Long Beach Sportfishing.

Port of Long Beach Executive Director Christopher Lytle said he didn't like the idea of having to displace businesses.

"If there was any other choice for us, I would rather leave the (businesses) right here and put this security complex somewhere else," he said. "But right now this is the best location for this security complex."

A major connector to the nation's trade system, the Gerald Desmond Bridge has been slowly decaying as traffic volumes have grown, so port officials embarked on the $1 billion replacement project, due for completion in 2016.

Because Fire Station 20 is in the path of one of the new bridge supports, fire and port officials began looking for other locations. However, real estate pickings were slim, according to port officials.

Berth 55 - which houses the two beloved, longtime Westside businesses - provided the best land and water access for Fire Station 20 and also allowed for police services and port security, said port and public safety officials.

"We need a place where we can bring people in with good land-side access, and to get a boat and respond out to whatever the incident is or whatever the emergency is," said Long Beach Fire Chief Mike DuRee, adding that the location improves land response times by more than 1 minute. "This facility will provide that for us."

For more than 40 years, Berth 55 has been a go-to place for longshoremen and residents who enjoy down-home seafood dining by the harbor. For many, it's a Westside landmark and the port's move threatens to take away one of the few public accesses to the harbor.

"You're displacing good businesses that have been here," said Paul Allen Collins, an architect based on the Westside. "There's no place for people in Long Beach to go anymore within the port to be on the water."

Some supporters argued that there are better places to put the safety complex, such as putting it closer to Fire Station 20's current location near the bridge or bunking it with a nearby station.

Others urged officials to consider allowing the fire station and businesses to share the space.

"We're not talking about bringing destroyers, battleships," said resident Dan Hernandez. "There's plenty of room for that (the fireboat and equipment) and the vessels that are already here."

Port and fire officials countered that there would not be enough room to accommodate both uses and added that it was a security issue.

"We have to continue to bolster public safety in the port," Lytle said.

The port has issued a 180-day notice to vacate to the businesses, which requires them to close by the end of October.

Vice Mayor Robert Garcia, whose 1 st Council District includes Berth 55, said the situation is a sad one for those involved.

"You've got really great businesses that connect with the community," Garcia said. "On the other hand, you have this post 9-11 environment where you have to make the largest economic generator on the West Coast safe."

Garcia said he is hopeful that a compromise can be reached.

"I'd love to see this restaurant be here in some form," he said. "Is it possible? I don't know."